Patterson wins jersey sales in MN, and NE

John Holler

07/08/2015

Big things were expected of Cordarrelle Patterson last year and his jersey sales reflected that in Minnesota, and surprisingly in Nebraska.

There’s no rhyme or reason as to why some players sell more jerseys than other players. It would make sense for players like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers to sell a ton of jerseys because they’re the faces of their franchises.

In a listing of state-by-state leaders in jersey sales, there were some things that were expected and some that weren’t. Perhaps topping the list of those surprises was that Patterson not only led Minnesota in jersey sales for the 2014-15 NFL season, according to the Jersey Report from Dick’s Sporting Goods – which keeps track of jersey sales for each player and each team – but, would you believe Patterson was also the top-selling jersey in Nebraska?

The final results are in and the state-by-state breakdown had its share of surprises and fully expected results.

The Dakotas are supposed to be Vikings Country, but neither of them went with a Vikings as its top jersey seller. North Dakota went with Aaron Rodgers (along with Wisconsin and Iowa), while South Dakota went with Peyton Manning (along with Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah).

Jake Locker isn’t playing football anymore, but he still won Tennessee.

It was no surprise that Andrew Luck won Indiana, but he also won Nevada. Perhaps with legalized gambling, everyone is looking for a little Luck.

Johnny Manziel had a hideous rookie season, but it didn’t prevent him from winning three states – Ohio, Kentucky and Oklahoma.

Cam Newton won three states. Two were completely expected. When you play for the Carolina Panthers, you should win North Carolina and South Carolina. But Hawaii? Chalk the islands up to Cam.

Two different Steelers won states, making Pittsburgh the only team to have different players win different states. Ben Roethlisberger has owned Pennsylvania for a decade, but his only win was in West Virginia. Antonio Brown took over Pennsylvania as the top seller.

Since the 2015 draft, the numbers are different. While Manziel won three states for the 2015 season, including Ohio, he wasn’t in the top 10 selling jerseys since the draft and two of his Browns teammates made the top 10. Cornerback Joe Haden was No. 1 overall and safety Donte Whitner took 10th overall.

In fact, seven of the top 10 jersey sellers since the draft didn’t win a single state during the season.

Odell Beckham Jr. of the Giants didn’t win a state over Eli Manning during the season, but nationwide he was No. 2 overall since the draft. DeMarco Murray and Shady McCoy finished third and ninth, respectively, since the draft but they weren’t with their 2014 teams. Murray as an Eagle and McCoy as a Buffalo Bill made a spring charge.

Five of the top 10 since the draft were quarterbacks. Manning (No. 4), Luck (No. 4) and Brady (No. 8) sold their jerseys from July to June, but two of them – Jameis Winston (No. 6) and Marcus Mariota (No. 7) – didn’t officially even know what teams they were going to play with until the first two picks of the draft.

Jersey sales are fickle at best. Apparently, you can’t walk the streets of Butte these days without seeing a Carr jersey, although a Patterson jersey sighting is pretty rare in Minnesota on cool summer nights.

Don’t be stunned if guys like Teddy Bridgewater start climbing the list next year and Adrian Peterson has a bounce-back season, but you can bet there will continue to be surprises when next year’s final numbers come out.